"Is it a boy or girl?" might be the most common question that pregnant women are asked - and it's definitely something you're thinking about if you're expecting or trying to conceive yourself.

It Might Be In The Blood (Pressure)

Recent studies have shown that women with higher blood pressure at the time of conception are more likely to have boys, while lower blood pressure results in baby girls.

There are a lot of old wive's tales or "tells" that purport to be able to predict whether a pregnant woman is having a boy or a girl; however, there isn't really any scientific correlation for those. So the ring and needle test, the idea that carrying high (boy) versus low (girl), having certain food cravings, or any other characteristics that may lead the aspiring fortune tellers amongst us to predict the biological sex of a baby doesn't really hold water in the medical community.

How This Study Worked...

This study involved monitoring the blood pressure of a group of nearly 1500 women living in China who were planning to get pregnant soon. Factors such as age, weight, cholesterol, and status as a smoker were all taken into account, but the only one that had statistical significance was blood pressure. The blood pressure prior to conception of women who had sons was approximately 2.6% higher than women who gave birth to daughters.

What It All Means...

That said, the researchers running the study warned that blood pressure isn't necessarily a way to control whether you're having a boy or girl; rather, it's more likely a sign in her underlying physiology which signifies her ability to carry a healthy boy or girl to term; e.g. certain characteristics make a woman more capable of having girls as opposed to boys, or vice versa. And one of those characteristics could be her preconception blood pressure!

So a woman's blood pressure isn't necessarily a way to control or influence the gender of her baby, but it is perhaps an interesting way to guess whether it's going to be a boy or girl. Moms, do you know your preconception blood pressure and is this study accurate (on the higher side = boy, the lower side = girl)? Whether it was correct or not, this could be interesting information for the future.